Pours well, with a cloudy, goldenrod-peach body that's rife with carbonation and sporting a well-retained cap of eggshell foam. Aroma is very grassy, with lots of wheat playing a supporting role, but the big draw for Mana Wheat is the pineapple notes. Lots of citrusy pineapple sweetness pairs with scents of pear and, oddly enough, cranberry.

Each sip is smooth and slightly sweet with a husky mineral note in the finish. The wheat is mellow, which allows the sweet & tart acidity of the pineapple to flash across the palate mid-sip. Mouthfeel is superb: creamy-smooth with just the right amount of carbonation. The thin body is amazingly drinkable on a hot Texas day without feeling overly watery. Overall, a tasty wheat from Maui Brewing Company...definitely glad I have another five cans!

Drinkability: Very refreshing, especially in Maui, but this really did not seem all that different from other American Wheats. Some reviews mention too much pineapple, others (like mine) mention just the barest touch. Consistency issues? Regardless, it was still quite enjoyable and refreshing.

Poured into a pint glass from a 12 oz. can brewed on the Valley Isle of Maui. Pours a light golden in color with an initially fizzy head that offers good retention and lace nonetheless. Carbonation is active and swirling as the tornado seems to rip soil up into its vortex until things balance out in a minute or so.

Aroma offers an underlying base of wheat along with some candied pineapple, almost reminiscent of a subdued pina colada as the pineapple melds with the wheat. The odd blend offers a touch of Belgian character in a way, though not really.

Pineapple jumps to the forefront in the taste department, most notably on the finish. Feel is pleasant and slightly sweet yet nondescript. An interesting brew and the pineapple influence is significant enough to toss this into the
Fruit beer category.

The pineapple seems to clash more than compliment the wheat; regardless it's a welcome addition to an otherwise bland style. Out front is a wheaty, bread crust-like character; followed with mild hop, pineapple fruitiness and slight citrus pith.

The feel has a mild creaminess, with a medium feel and mild carbonation. End is semi-dry.

Overall a fair wheat ale, but nothing too spectacular. Dare I say boring, but it's beyond the norm so that's not quite fair to say. Glad I didn't buy a sixer, but glad I bought just this one.

A: Pours a light hazy yellow orange color. Three fingers of big bubbled bright white head. Tons of carbonation streaming off the bottom of the glass.

S: It's an older beer, too old to be being sold but it still smells pretty clean and good. It smells of sweet pineapple fruit. Sweet wheat malt too.

T: It's very carbonated. Almost overly. I really can't complain about about this one, it's old yes but the flavors are still there. It's a solid wheat minus the Belgian yeast strains. You still get some of that pineapple flavor which is really pleasant. Dry close.

I really like Maui Gold Pineapples. Every time I visit Hawai'i or California, I bring back around 4 of them. Anybody that's had them before, you know why. When I found out that MBC made a wheat ale with Maui Gold, I had to jump on it! I thought this one had a great balance between the Maui Gold and the wheat. Maui Gold is very sweet and has very low acidity to it, so I figured it would be a bit over powering, but they did a good job, not letting that happen. It's a great beer for the hot weather down here, I just wish I didn't have to bring it from Cali or Hawai'i, when I visit.

Note: I originally reviewed this under Maui Brewing Co. (Brewpub) - oops. This is copied from there.

Cheers to Goblinmunkey7 and his mother for this can

Consumed 12/30/11

Appearance: Hazy, cloudy golden orange color - a somewhat large head with some foamy, sticky lacing

Smell: Kind of smells like a weird trail mix - the pineapple really is the most prominent aroma - and it's not like a juicy, tropical pineapple-like aroma (due to hops), but rather like dry, sugary pineapple slices or pineapple candy - very strange - aside from that, there are pale malts, wheat, some spices (clove), banana peels

Taste: Slightly less weird than the smell, but not good - tons of dry pineapple - very sweet, but the pineapple flavor almost makes me feel like this should be sweeter and juicer - some spices, particularly clove - some other weird fruit flavors, including banana and tart apple - some serious wheat - there are a lot of strong flavors here, and they don't entirely work together

Mouthfeel: Medium body, sticky, needs to be crisper

Overall: Well, at least the can is cool-looking

Ultimately, I can't say a lot of nice things about this beer. It's a sub-par wheat ale with an excessive amount of dried-out, sticky pineapples thrown in the mix. I wouldn't recommend this. I'm not even sure if I would drink it again.

Bananas come forward once again on the palate, along with very low level pineapple juice notes, though these are easy to mistake for light fruit esters. Low bitterness, as the hops seem rather restrained. Slighly odd finish which is sweet/tart and somewhat grainy. No off notes though.

Light bodied, with what appears to be decent carbonation, though head formation/retention is incredibly poor.

An approachable summer beer - good for a picnic or pool party - but not too impressive on its own.

a cloudy honey colored pour with a finger of head (which quickly diminished). scents of lemongrass, sour notes, bready. a slightly tart, sweet bready malt with a hint of citrus. sweeter than most wheat beers. medium body with low carbonation and is surprisingly refreshing. a nice surprise. wasn't expecting much from this one but it was really nice and sweet for the style.

Appearance: Hazy orange. Head is bright-white, fluffy, and sticks to the glass. Decent head retention leaves a thin cap that lasts for the duration. Carbonation looks to be on point.

Smell: Pineapple juice. Faint tang of wheat. Citrusy and a little grassy. Pineapple juice dominates. Luckily, it smells like fresh pineapple juice and not the stuff in a can. yeast makes itself know and helps to offer some balance to the sweetness of the juice. Grainy.

Taste: Pineapple juice layered over a yeasty wheaty body. Bready at times. Grassy. Some toasted malts? Nicely balanced, but the pineapple juice starts to take over after a few sips. Some biscuity notes as well.

Mouthfeel: Light bodied. Carbonation is on the higher side of moderate, but works to quell some of the sweetness. A touch dry. Drinks relatively smooth.

Overall: Not bad, but not great either. It's a nice take on the wheat beer, but the pineapple dominates in the long run and loses some of the more subtle flavor profiles.

S: Bright fruit dominates, with sweet apple, apricot, and golden raisin all detected. There is also a faint element of bready yeast but it stays subordinate to the fruit.

T: Begins off-dry, with bright mixed fruit and honey. Acidity is mild, but welcome--at home amidst the other flavors. Some pineapple character emerges in the middle, but without the characteristic sweet or tart modifier that one might expect to accompany it in obligate fashion. The finish is not bitter, but does feature a whiff of pilsner malt and more lingering pineapple.

M: Thin to medium viscosity, wet and smooth on the palate, with moderate carbonation.

D/O: This filtered wheat beer is fairly accomplished, refreshing the palate while generating interest. It is quite dissimilar to most other wheat beers, in appearance as well as other qualities. It presents itself more like an adventurous blond ale than anything traditionally associated with wheat.

Poured from a 12oz can into a pint glass. My other Maui offering had a date stamped on bottom of the can but this one didn't. But they just entered the Texas market so it's fresh enough. Was a very cloudy honey color with great carb streams. It had a large foamy head that settled into a constant thick foam cap. Great lacing and plenty sticking. One of the best looking APWA's that I've had.

The aroma is heavy on the wheat and pineapple juice with some other fruits in the background (banana for sure and maybe a little orange). Pretty sweet smelling maybe too much. The taste is heavy on the sweet pineapple juice with not much else coming thru. I wouldn't have minded it as an accent but not enjoying it as much as the main element. Refreshing but it's a bit too much after a whole can. Mouthfeel is medium with crisp carbonation.

Overall, an interesting beer that might find a home with the masses but it's too sweet for me and too one dimensional. Accent great; lead not so much. Avail here in TX. Glad to try it as I've heard good things about Maui but one is enough for me. [N;O]

Pour - pours a slightly cloudy orangish, reddish color with about an inch of white foam that is gone almost before I can grab the camera. It quickly fades away completely leaving what looks like tropical fruit juice in my glass.

Aroma - slightly sweet and sour initially. Some wheat and malt is accompanied by a rather unique smell of pineapple juice and caramel. Its not overly sweet and actually has some citrus notes along with an unmistakeable Belgian yeastiness. Quite intriguing...

Taste - one gulp and swish around the tongue and I am sort of stunned by how well the idea of pineapple and wheat beer come together. Mana Wheat has a spiciness from the yeast that really comes out but its backed up nicely by the sweetness from the pineapple juice in a perfect way. Nothing really dominates and that acrid taste I am left with from some wheat ales is not present whatsoever. Pineapple does to this beer what it does for pork. It just makes it awesome. This is soft on the palate, sweet, spicy and extremely refreshing. Hells yeah. I want more.

Overall - Mana Wheat definitely lived up to my expectations. Another extremely solid and Hawaii-rific offering from the folks at Maui. Unique, flavorful and thirst quenching on a whole new level!

Would I buy more of it? - if only I could! I'd be stocking up on this and the other Maui cans on a regular basis.

Where IS my ukelele? I would feel a bit more comfortable playing a stringed instrument with one of these in my hand. It is a wheat ale, and it is a solid wheat ale - make no mistake! I had to search hard for the promised pineapple, but that did not detract from my enjoyment of this beer. If you want an thirst quenching but substantial beer to enjoy in Hawaii, give this a try!

A funny old beer, and one I'm always happy to see. Maybe it's the carefree joy of finding good beer in a can, still a rare sight in the UK. Maybe it's just nostalgia for my honeymoon in Hawaii. Maybe it's just that it's one of those rare beers that's interesting and unique but still refreshing and very drinkable.

Poured out of the can, it's not special to look at. A frothy parchment-white head atop a sunburnt, uniformly hazy golden body. But the aroma makes it well worth decanting (decanning?). Fruity and tropical yet spicy and bready, this is like a banana bread piña colada. Loads of cloves, allspice, and ripe banana, hints of bubblegum, watermelon, and violet, and a pervasive pineapple juice overtone. There's something mulled wine-like about it, but put through the looking glass – it's got the warming spice of a winter beer but the lively, vinous fruitiness of a summer beer. Discordant, but not unpleasantly so.

Roundly sweet with a strong flavor of toasted banana bread, a Sailor Jerry-ish spiced rum note and a twang of pineapple. It's weird. But I like it. The base is a classic hefeweizen, and really that's what this is – you could be fooled into thinking into it's just an unusually fruity specimen from Bavaria. It's a little bit slick with sugar and gluten but overall quite refreshing, and unlike a lot of wheat beers, it's not overly gassy. It doesn't rank among the world's best weissbiers but it is novel and tasty, if not something I could drink a lot of in one night. Still, it makes for a lovely treat on occasion.